Monday, October 10, 2011

10/10/2011
While we are not going to
look up the medical name for the malady of the disconnection between
one’s brain and motor functions anymore, lest we be accused again of
casting psychiatric aspersions, we can see many of its symptoms in
government.

Of course, the Aquino III government did right by
ordering the National Food Authority (NFA) “to buy storm-damaged palay
to help the deluged farmers of Northern and Central Luzon. At least four
million people were displaced by the winds and floods of two successive
typhoons, and a season’s crop was soaked black. Flood waters have not
receded in many areas and a very bleak Christmas awaits many of the
stricken families. The order to salvage what can be saved of these
soaked palays can only be done with the NFA ready to intervene in the
market.

Yet, as Aquino III is ordering the state agency to perform
its “Good Samaritan” act, two of his top honchos in Budget and Finance —
namely, Butch Abad and Cesar Purisima — are doggedly hammering the
abolition and privatization of the NFA.

For one, a fully
privatized grains sector will not have any inclination to do public
service in times of crisis. What is most likely is that it will wait
for desperate typhoon and flood victims to plead for their soaked palays
to be bought as animal feed as it hoards good rice stocks in order to
raise prices.

If Aquino III were without the NFA today, who could
he possibly have relied on to assist these unfortunate millions of rice
farmers? This is the lesson he should pick up from the unfortunate
disasters that have struck us the past two weeks. This is the very
argument he should use to silence Abad and Purisima as this comes from
wiser and far more experienced and dedicated voices, such as the NFA
leaders and employees’ union, and even his own appointed administrator
who has since become a defender of the NFA’s vital role in our economy.

So
why are Abad and Purisima carrying on with their campaign by dishing
out lies against the NFA, distorting its actual financial condition in
order to project an utterly hopeless and corrupt image of it?
A
fully privatized food, rice, and grains sector will mean the loss of our
national food sovereignty and security, as the power over food supplies
will be transferred completely to profit-seeking local and
transnational traders.

Without food sovereignty and security, the
nation will be enslaved to private parties who control its very means of
survival and, consequently, compel it to give and do anything in
exchange.

Abad and Purisima’s track record betrays clear servility
to foreign interests, from pushing the IMF-WB’s Electric Power Industry
Reform Act (Epira) to the maintenance of the debt-based financial
system despite the overflowing funds lying idle in the Bangko Sentral ng
Pilipinas.

Elsewhere, there’s another disconnect: The Meralco
(Manila Electric Co.) rate hike for October of P0.09 per kilowatt-hour
(kWh) at a time when global fuel prices are going down, amid a surplus
of hydro-power that should be evident with the hydro-electric dams
overflowing.

The oil and natural gas-fueled independent power
producers (IPPs) have indexed prices that defy the laws of supply and
demand in the world, which apply only to the Philippines.

The
official reason for the increase in rates, Meralco says, is that “the
generation charge component, which it collects for its power suppliers,
will rise by 14.19 centavos per kWh, but this hike will be partly offset
by a 5-centavo decrease in the distributor’s own charges, resulting in a
lower net increase…” Well, this is just a lie, in complicity with the
Energy Regulatory Commission, as Meralco’s Maximum Average Price should
not be P1.58 but P0.90/kWh.

Further, it says, “the increase in the
generation charge is due to the use of more expensive liquid fuel by
First Gen Corp.’s natural gas plants, following a supply restriction at
Malampaya natural gas field from Sept. 22 to 25.” This is, of course,
another BS.

Why should there be a supply restriction from
Malampaya’s cheaper natural gas plant when we all know that it even
exports a great part of its production?

Filipino power consumers
should have the priority in the use of Malampaya natural gas; and this
explanation from Meralco, which is tied to the Malampaya gas by
sweetheart supply contracts from the Lopez era, does not go far enough
into details to justify the hike.

Malacañang, in the wake of
Meralco’s announcement and knowing how sensitive the issue already is,
quickly follows up by saying that November power prices will see a
decline, as if to show some concern.
But if it is really
concerned, what Malacañang should do is to dig deeper into the present
Meralco claims to find out the truth while compelling the power company
to hold off its rate hike after a thorough hearing on its claims.

Meanwhile,
the Code-NGO PEACe Bonds of P10 billion will be paid on Oct. 18 with
P35 billion of the taxpayers’ money. The loan’s first beneficiaries were
the conspirators of the Edsa II coup d’etat — the Ayala foundation, the
Ateneo, NGOs associated with the Caucus of Development NGOs (Code-NGO),
the Camacho siblings (one of whom is Gloria Arroyo’s former Finance
Secretary), and some others.

This was plunder of the highest
degree by people associated with Cory Aquino, from Dan Songco (who
managed Cory’s NGOs) to Dinky Soliman et al. The funds from this
transaction replaced former foreign funding that was substantially
withdrawn from the Philippines when the US shifted its soft intensity
conflict projects to other parts of the globe, leaving a few hundred NGO
workers now making up another kind of NGO or Neo-Governmental
Organizations as the subversive backbone against the Republic. This
parallel bureaucracy (as seen in the Conditional Cash Transfer network)
is intended to replace career civil service workers, with Aquino III as
the president of this parallel network. Another major disconnect,
indeed.

10/10/2011
The so-called Poverty
Education and Alleviation Certificate (PEACe) Bonds issued in 2001 was
among the biggest racket sprung under the previous administration, all
costing the Filipino taxpayers P35 billion which government gave away to
a private group called Caucus of Development NGO Networks (Code-NGO) a
P1.4 billion windfall, tax free.

The P12 billion bond float was a
payback for the backers of Gloria Arroyo who supported her coup d’etat
against then sitting President Joseph Estrada in 2001. The group counted
among others, now Social Work and Development Secretary Dinky Soliman
and Peace Process Adviser Teresita Deles.

The scam was hatched
through official channels that probably included then Gloria’s Finance
Secretary Jose Isidro Camacho since his sister Marissa Camacho was the
head of the Code-NGO and such float needed to pass through a gauntlet of
approvals from regulators, including the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
(BSP). The float was even a first for a so-called zero coupon bond where
in maturity the P12 billion value of the bonds when it was issued will
be worth P35 billion by this Oct. 18 when these mature..... MORE

10/10/2011
Malacañang slams the utak
wang-wang (VIP mentality) with which Noynoy always brands the previous
administration and its officials and allies, but when his officials and
allies display not only the same utak wang-wang and but also utak
pulbura, such officials that display abusive power are quickly absolved
of any wrongdoing.

In fact, Malacañang even lies through its teeth in absolving them, saying no violation has been committed.

A
case in point: Presidential Adviser Ronaldo Llamas’ security detail
that met a vehicular incident was nevertheless found lugging
high-powered firearms, along with handguns.

The immediate claim of
Llamas, through a statement, said that all firearms were duly
registered, which was a lie, since official bodyguards are permitted to
carry with them registered handguns, not high-powered fireams..... MORE

The
West is concerned about the incursion of Syrian troops in Lebanon.
Western media wrote that they attacked civilians in Beqaa, having killed
at least one person, a citizen of Syria.

Syrian officials claim that it is the
radical opposition that has been trying to use the Lebanese territory in
the struggle against Bashar Assad's regime. News agencies have already
released a number of news stories about the interception of caravans
loaded with arms, including grenade-launchers and machine guns. The arms
were supposed to be used against representatives of the Syrian army,
policemen and state security officers..... MORE

10/10/2011
CCM is, of course, Ombudsman
Conchita Carpio-Morales. This early, just over a month into the job, the
former Supreme Court justice who stood her ground as a member of that
exalted body for years is proving yet again to be her own (wo)man. She
is nobody’s patsy. Contrary to the expectations of the hotheads and THIN
(Trying-Hard-To-Impress-Noynoy) guys in the present administration, it
is clear she is taking the high road, no matter what. Take the case of
the controversial plea bargain agreement entered into by then Ombudsman
Merceditas Gutierrez and former AFP Comptroller Carlos Garcia which was
vehemently opposed by no less than P-Noy himself and almost the entire
leadership of the ruling coalition, not to mention their cohorts, in and
out of government.

One remembers that the administration staked
its standing on this issue, left no stone unturned and mobilized all its
forces in an all-out campaign to have the agreement rescinded and
Garcia sent to jail for plunder..... MORESource: The Daily Tribune

World uprising against corrupt thieves
Thousands
of Americans occupied Wall Street without violence - an epicenter of
global financial power and corruption. They are the last rays of light
in a new movement for social justice that is spreading rapidly around
the world: from Madrid to Jerusalem, and 146 other cities, with others
joining all the time. But they need our help to triumph.

The
families of workers are footing the bill for a financial crisis caused
by corrupt elites. The protesters are demanding a real democracy, social
justice and fighting corruption. But they are under strong pressure
from the authorities and some media are portraying them as extremists.
If millions of us around the world support them, we will increase our
determination and show the leaders and the media that the protests are
part of a massive movement for change..... MORE

President
Aquino cannot remain evasive over the Charter change (Cha-cha) issue
since efforts in Congress to tinker with the Constitution will not
prosper without his support, Sen. Joker Arroyo said, adding that Vice
President Jejomar Binay has reason to be concerned over Cha-cha since
there is no real assurance that only economic provisions of the
Constitution will be touched.

The moment that Congress is convened as a bicameral constituent assembly (con-ass), it can get out of control, Arroyo warned.

“There
could be valid ground for changes, there is nothing wrong with amending
the Constitution but once it is opened to amendments, anything can
happen,” he said.

Arroyo rallied behind the concerns raised by
Binay against the revived call to revisit the country’s Constitution,
saying that efforts to amend the 1987 Constitution, if allowed by
President Aquino, may go beyond changes in its economic provisions..... MORE

10/10/2011
“The voice and the face” of the Communist Party of the Philippines’ (CPP) armed wing, the New People’s Army (NPA), is dead.

The revolutionary movement yesterday announced the demise of Gregorio “Ka Roger” Rosal due to heart attack.

In
a statement, the CPP said Rosal died last June 22 after suffering
another heart attack in a guerrilla front somewhere in Luzon. He was 64.

“The CPP wishes to inform its entire membership,
all revolutionary forces and the public in general that CPP
spokesperson Gregorio “Ka Roger” Rosal passed away in a guerrilla zone
on June 22 after suffering a heart attack,” it added..... MORE

Department
of Justice (DoJ) declared invalid a “special permit” issued by former
Environment Secretary Lito Atienza to a mining firm in Zamboanga del Sur
after Justice Secretary Leila de Lima decided that the director of the
Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) has the sole authority to grant
special mining permits and not the secretary of the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

In a five-page legal
opinion, De Lima said the act of DENR Secretary Ramon Paje of upholding
the Special Ore Extraction Permit (SOEP) earlier awarded by his
predecessor, former Environment Secretary Lito Atienza, to Lupa
Pigigetawan was invalid because the power rests only to the Director of
the Mines and Geosciences Bureau who should issue the same under RA 7942
or the Mining Act of 1995.

The ruling issue found “invalid” the granting of a Special Ore Extraction Permit (SOEP) to the mining firm Lupa Pigigetawan..... MORE

10/10/2011
Two powerful explosions
believed to be from home-made bombs ripped through a motel and a
cock-fighting arena in Zamboanga City yesterday, wounding 11 persons,
police said.

The first explosion at noon tore through the ground
floor of the two-story Red Palm inn in Zamboanga, a port city in the
troubled southern island of Mindanao, where Islamist militants operate.

“It
was a huge explosion. Six of my friends were injured and taken away for
medical help after a wall fell on them after the explosion,” said hotel
guest and witness Roland Teofilo, who escaped unharmed.

10/10/2011
BACOLOD — Donnie “Ahas”
Nietes survived the biggest scare of his career and pounded out a
unanimous decision win against Ramon Hirales Garcia of Mexico to wrest
the World Boxing Organization (WBO) light-flyweight title Saturday night
at the jampacked St. La Salle Coliseum here.

The 29-year-old
Filipino boxed beautifully early into the 12-round match, repeatedly
scoring with punishing rights that kept his bigger Mexican opponent at
bay.

But Nietes nearly faded in the middle rounds when Garcia
mounted on the pressure, hammering him inside behind a series of vicious
left that wore out the former janitor turned world champion..... MORE

The
visibly infuriated Caloocan Mayor Enrico Echiverri yesterday offered
P100,000 as reward to anyone who can provide the police vital
information that may lead to the arrest of two men who raped and killed
an employee at the University of the Philippines-Diliman last October 4.

This
as local police chief Senior Supt. Jude Wilson Santos, in his report to
Northern Police District (NPD) director Chief Supt. Antonio Decano,
announced they have already identified the suspects behind the rape and
killing of Jee Ann de Guzman, 26, of Vanguard Street, Barangay 178, also
in the city.

De Guzman, who was earlier described as a student
but turned out to be an employee of UP’s University Hotel-Marketing
Department, was walking on her way home around 8 p.m. and was already
some meters away from her residence when suspects Eric Macaraan and Erro
Allid alias Dandan, 29, both residents of the area, blocked her path..... MORE

Amid the
stir created by United States Ambassador Harry Thomas Jr.’s statement
on “sex tourism” in the country, lawmakers yesterday retaliated by
accusing the United States of contributing to the bad image of the
country.

According to Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello, it was the United
States that contributed to the alleged sex tourism in the country at
the time when it was maintaining two huge military bases in Subic in
Olongapo and at Clark Air Base in Pampanga.

“I think Ambassador
Thomas might have exaggerated, but he was on the spot in underlining the
fact that there is a lot of sex tourism by western men in the
Philippines. He should also have acknowledged that the US bases created
the problem and that the US soldiers deployed here under the VFA
(Visiting Forces Agreement) contribute to the problem,” Bello said,
adding he is inclined to accept the apology of the US ambassador.

“I
would accept the apology and move on to the task of greater
coordination between both governments to stop sex trafficking,” Bello
said..... MORE